"Obama is the last Democratic president to oppose marriage equality"

[Renew Deal]

That was going to be the title of my post today. There was no way we'd have a nominee in 2016 and beyond that opposed marriage equality. Obama would be the last one. In a way, he still was in 2008. Instead Obama is the first sitting president to support marriage equality.

This is no small change. Although Obama has very little power in regards to marriage laws, this will get a lot of citizens to consider and re-consider their views. It will also make it difficult for a Democratic nominee to oppose marriage equality in the future. That was pretty obvious anyway if you look at the 2016 contenders (Hillary, O'Malley, Cuomo, Gillibrand, and others).

This is a great step forward on a day that was previously clouded by an unfortunate setback.

[TheWraith]

1. Gillibrand 2016.

[bigwillq]

2. It's certainly good news that Obama has publicly changed his mind

on this issue.

[boxman15]

3. I don't think his personal opinion has changed.

Reports on CNN and MSNBC both say that Obama has been pro-same sex marriage for a long, long time now (in 1996, he wrote that he's for gay marriage), but he hasn't been able to come out in support of it because of potential political consequences.

Indeed, CNN says that Obama's political advisors were split on this decision, but I'm glad he did. It was courageous, and he's on the right side of history.

[bigwillq]

4. I never really cared what his personal feelings were

But I did find it quite appalling that a supposedly progressive president would feel the need to hide behind his religion and tell us he needs to evolve on the subject.

I don't feel like Obama handled the issue very well. I at least hope folks realize how his words and actions on this issue sounded to members of the gay community.

At least he has seen the light, so to speak. It's good to see he has some political courage on this issue.